Gold Pills to gild your poop. Best statement on over-consumption ever?
Many folks bemoan the gentrification of the East Village as having pushed the gritty, edgy, brilliant, artist-types out in favor of trust-fund babies and regular contributors to 401Ks. Until recently, though, the East Village was home to Tobias Wong - a 35 year-old conceptual artist and designer whose remarkable body of work is a reminder that controversial, thought-provoking, "smart" art is still created in the borough of Manhattan.
Tobi died this past weekend. He was best known for provocative pieces like his gold-plated "Coke Spoon" series, one a McDonald’s coffee stirrer and the other a Bic pen cap. Like the coke spoons, perhaps, much of the rest of his work sarcastically "tweaked the nose" of modern luxury consumers; a well-trodden path for artists to be sure, but Tobi's works were sublime. You can judge for yourself here and here.
Besides all this, I will miss Tobi because I was lucky enough to know him. We’d sneak cigarettes in the back of The Hose on a blustery winter night. He bought me birthday drinks at Nowhere just this past spring. He had a sly, mischievous smile and - as you might expect - a winning sense of humor. My heart goes out to Tim, his wonderful boyfriend, as well as to Tobi’s family in Vancouver.
We lost a fascinating and talented artist ostensibly too soon - but his legacy lies in the hope that greatness still happens - and lives - Downtown.
Photo via The Colorful Life.
David Ozanich's is a GLAAD-award winning co-author of the "Likely Story" series of teen-girl books, and has also written for Lonely Planet and other publications/outlets.